Social care cash won’t end crisis

The extra £2bn that Chancellor Philip Hammond handed to social care will not end the funding crisis in the sector, a charity has warned.

But Carers UK said without the Government’s extra cash many more carers would have ended up in “lasting poverty”. They would have seen their health and relationships suffer.

Nikola Matulewicz-Evans, pictured with son Luca: she thinks the cash “will just end up going to the really, really needy”

Carers UK’s research shows around two million people have given up work to care for relatives.

The organisation’s policy director is Emily Holzhausen. She said: “This welcome funding announcement is by no means the end to the continuing problem of inadequate social care funding.”

Collapse of the social care system

Council leaders had threatened the collapse of the social care system.

Hammond committed the £2bn in his Spring Budget, to be spent over the next three years. He said this would allow councils to “act now to commission new care packages”.

One of those affected is carer Nikola Matulewicz-Evans. She believes that only the most desperate families will gain from the Chancellor’s extra cash.

Matulewicz-Evans has an 11-year-old son, Luca, who has high-functioning autism. He also has polymicrogyria. This is a condition where the cortex of the brain develops too many folds. It has left him with a weakened right side.

Hospital appointments

The 46-year-old mother, from Derbyshire, had a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery after breast cancer. Recently, however, she found fresh lumps and must attend further hospital appointments.

She said she was unable to get funding for any respite for her son, who is educated at home, while she was attending hospital appointments linked to her cancer fight. But she says Derbyshire County Council has since committed to funding two hours a week.

Matulewicz-Evans says her son also struggles with several other autism-related conditions. These include anxiety, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), sensory processing difficulties and Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA).

She said: “I think it (the extra £2bn) will just end up going to the really, really needy who have had no support.”